Exactly What They Need -a McRoll in the REAL World story by Sammy&Mari
by Mari217
Summary: As a dangerous situation comes to a close, Grace and Angie have a little talk.


_Sammy & Ilna - love you to the moon_

_Thanks to Sammy for creating the amazingness of Friday's story from reading a few lines of this one. SUPERSAMMY also did all the case stuff on this one!_

_REALMcRollers & Readers - we love you guys._

* * *

**Exactly What They Need**

Steve and Danny crept down the stairs towards the pharmacy's backroom communicating solely through hand gestures and the knowledge of what the other was thinking born of their experiences in hundreds of other similar circumstances.

This situation was more volatile than most. The suspects were beyond desperate. For drugs. For money. But mostly for a way out. They were no longer thinking. They were simply acting. Piling one bad decision on top of another. They could have headed for the mountains and attempted to get lost in the lush foliage, or stolen a boat and headed out to sea. But they didn't. Driven by their desire for their next fix they had placed three more lives in danger. Four actually, if you counted the unborn child. And for Steve and Danny both, protecting that child, along with the other innocent adults in the pharmacy, was of paramount importance.

The hostage negotiator had gotten nowhere. The men were in such a chaotic state they couldn't even settle on a list of demands.

Steve and Danny reached the backroom and after a silent countdown from three entered the pharmacy. The two suspects reacted immediately. One leveled his gun at Danny while the other pointed his at the head of the clearly terrified pregnant woman sitting to his immediate left. The male hostage pulled the older female out of her chair onto the floor and covered her body with his own.

Despite having his gun trained on the woman the first suspect's attention was squarely focused on Steve.

"Just put the guns down," Steve ordered forcefully. "There's no way out for you."

Clearly confused as to exactly what to do next, the first suspect moved his gun to point it towards Steve. "If I'm not getting out of here alive, I'm gonna take you with me."

It took only a split second for Steve and Danny to react. A few seconds later both suspects were dead and the hostages, while clearly traumatized, were unharmed. As soon as the scene was secured Steve stepped away and dialed Catherine's number.

* * *

Grace was kneeling in the sand taking a video as her cousin giggled uproariously and ran through the 'wall' built by piling several bucketfuls of wet sand in a row. Placing her phone back on top of her bag within easy reach, she said, "Oh so you wanna be silly, huh? I can be silly, too."

The giggles continued as the teenager kneeled up and 'walked' through her own fort of sand while on her knees. When Grace swooped her into a hug and and tickled her tummy, Angie squealed, "Mo' Gwace! Mo'!"

Catherine who was watching from the deck, having just ended a call with Steve, let out a deep breath and smiled softly. "Grace!" She called and her niece's eyes met hers immediately, _expectantly_. She gave a thumbs up. "All good!"

Grace's smile lit her face and reached her eyes - Catherine could see her entire body relax and change posture as the teenager spoke to Angie. She'd been at the beach house since the wee hours of Saturday morning, and had been a big help in keeping Angie occupied while Catherine monitored the situation from her laptop. Angie had done an equally good job of keeping Grace distracted.

The minute the situation was secured, Catherine had gone to tell Grace and texted Gabby, who was conducting a weekend seminar for a group of international art buyers while being worried about Danny.

Minutes later, Grace stepped onto the deck with her cousin perched on one hip. Passing the toddler into her mother's open arms, she dropped her bag and stepped into Catherine's one armed embrace.

"All secure. They're fine, sweetheart." She dropped a kiss on her niece's temple just as the phone in Grace's bag rang.

She untangled herself from her Aunt and answered, "Danno!" nodding as she continued, "Auntie Cath just told me. You and Uncle Steve are okay?" As she sought confirmation, her tone became a female version of her father's 'dad mode' one. "You're not calling from the hospital or anything, right?"

"We're fine, everyone's fine," Danny's voice was audible to Catherine as she tickled Angie's chin to distract her. The toddler was reaching for her cousin and she wanted to give Grace a second to talk to her dad, but the teen shook her head, tucked the phone between her chin and shoulder and took the little girl into her arms.

"You got the guys?" Grace asked as she took a seat on one of the chaises and settled Angie in her lap. "Can you FaceTime for like a second?" She knew well that even if an active scene was under control, security might be an issue, but she always liked to see for herself.

The app sprung to life with Danny's answer and his image appeared.

"Dannnno!" Angie giggled and placed her hands over Grace's where she was holding the phone.

"Annnngie! He mimicked in what had become a common greeting between him and his goddaughter. "Hi, honey." The normally well groomed detective ran a hand through the blond hair that was in disarray. "Look who's with me."

A second later Steve's image appeared next to his best friend's and the little girl's face lit further. "Dada! See Dada," she told Grace excitedly. "Hi, Dada!" She let go of the phone to wave both hands.

"There's Daddy's girl. Hi baby." He returned her wave while his eyes focused on his niece's face. "Gracie, you good, sweetheart?"

"I'm good, Uncle Steve. Are you and Danno coming here?"

"Yeah, we're leaving in about twenty minutes. We'll be there by dinner." Steve waved again. "Here's Danno again. Bye, Angie."

Grace smiled at her father. "You must be hungry. We should order food. And I'll text Gabby, okay?"

Danny nodded. "Thanks, tell her we'll be home before her seminar's out and I'll call her in a little bit from the car."

"Okay … here, before you go, let Uncle Steve say hi to Auntie Cath." She passed her aunt the phone and bounced Angie on her knee.

Smiling at their niece's consideration, Catherine took the phone and said, "Hey." as her eyes scanned his image. They shared a smile and a mostly silent conversation until he said, "All good. Love you." His eyes sparked. "And if we're ordering food, I want a meat lovers pizza."

"Meat lovers. Got it. Love you." Catherine ended the call as Grace laughed from equal parts relief and humor when Angie echoed, "peet-ah."

* * *

Catherine ascended the stairs after ordering the food and feeding Cammie to hear Grace speaking conversationally from the nursery, where she'd offered to read a story after Angie asked for a book several times.

At the doorway, she paused. From her angle Grace could see her but Angie could not. The teen continued to speak softly as the little girl ran her fingers through her cousin's long hair, listening contently as they rocked.

"... and when he gets home, your daddy is gonna need a hug. A big one, okay?

Angie was watching Grace with serious eyes and she spoke. "So, you know our dads keep everyone safe, and sometimes they have to do things at work that are dangerous or scary or even make them sad." She glanced from the toddler to Catherine, who'd stepped quietly into the room. "Danno always says just being with me makes him feel better. I didn't really understand until a few years ago but he means that on a lot of different levels. And sometimes dads and moms need a hug even more than you do." She kissed the little hand that patted her cheek. "You have a whole lifetime to understand why, but for now, when he comes home give your daddy an extra big hug, okay?"

* * *

The minute the partners stepped into the living room, Grace wrapped her father in a tight embrace, not moving until he released his hold. Leaning against his side as his arm went over her shoulder, the teenager smiled at her tiny cousin who was clinging to Steve with both arms as he touched his forehead to his daughter's and Catherine held onto them both.

When Angie pulled back a full 30 seconds later, she pointed and murmured, "Gwace, Dada."

Kissing her cheek, Steve smiled and said, "I see, baby girl. Did you stay with Gracie while I was catching bad guys with Uncle Danno?"

"Ahh de ba 'wim ah bee." She replied softly as Catherine kissed her daughter from where she stood with her arm still around Steve's waist.

"Tell Daddy how Grace kept everything under control while Mommy monitored the situation." She moved toward their niece with open arms and they shared a hug.

After hugging Catherine, then Steve, Grace reached for the toddler, who clearly shared her mother's innate ability to sense what others needed. As the adults' tones and gestures lightened, she impulsively kissed her cousin's cheek, making her smile knowingly.

"Gwace ah bah."

"See what I mean, Angie?" Grace kissed the soft cheek and nodding at their tired but smiling fathers, whispered, "We're exactly what they need."

# _End. Thanks for reading!_

* * *

_Find all our stories (in chronological order!) on our website: __**marirealmcroll dot wixsite dot com backslash real-mcroll**_

_Or in the McRoll in the REAL World community here on fanfiction dot net __**Find us on Tumblr: mcrollintherealworld dot tumblr dot com**_

_You can join our mailing list by __**emailing us realmcroll at yahoo dot com**_ _with: Add me, please! in the subject line. Or just drop us a line to say hi! We love hearing from our readers._

_And find me on Twitter asking your opinions on all things McRoll in the REAL World! at Mari21763 and add #REALMcRoller _


End file.
